Rules of the Road

Some of you have asked, “rules? What rules? And why?” Well, here they are:

Number one: no flying. For starters, nothing eats into a well hoarded reserve of cash like flying. Also, flying, for me, is in a sense cheating. I miss so much I would never see jetting from one place to another. Also, I abhor flying. For a traveler, that must sound silly, but flying just scares the bejezus out of me. And lastly, the pollution and carbon footprint is too large. In the past when I have flown I have bought carbon offsets, voluntarily. But I cannot afford it on this journey. So, the above are pretty good reasons for rule number one.

Number two: must see penguins. That means the Tierra del Fuego at some point and hopefully, if the money lasts, a cruise down to Antarctica.

All that being said, rules are meant to be broken and if need be, in case of emergency or if there is simply no other way–I am worried about the crossing from South Africa to Argentina (there is a boat, but it doesn’t sail often)–then I will fly. But only if there is absolutely no other option.

Through africa? Anti-malarial pills & do not swim in fresh water north of the Reef (27 deg South). There used to be groups who travelled together overland from London to Joburg, company was called Adventure Overland.

I like it. Have you considered taking a sailing course? My brother completed a week-long one this summer and already had an offer to crew a boat to the lower 48. There are opportunities like this all the time, where a captain will give you a place to stay and feed you in exchange for manning the vessel. I don’t think this would be a very feasible way of getting around in the Indian Ocean because piracy is such a problem, but maybe when you’re somewhere else it could be a worthwhile option.

I hope you’re thinking about writing a book at some point, because I’d buy it. This is such an interesting time to be traveling with an open-ended itinerary.

neophytes for cruising. But no owner in his right mind would take on a newbie in a competitive race.

Sean-Paul, you appeared to enjoy your outing in a power vessel when you were in Singapore. Do yourself a favour and switch to sailing–much more environmentally friendly, uses no fuel except wind. It’s really great being out on the water with only the sound of wind in the sails.

Until you gain competency, suggest you concentrate on cruising but if an owner is willing to train you in racing, jump at it. Yacht clubs usually need crews and are willing to train people, but from my experience that’s at the local level and you wouldn’t be welcome on a racing boat until such time as you’re highly competent. There is an exception to every rule–if you weigh more than 300 pounds, you’d be welcome on fairly large and sometimes small racing boats, but limited to being movable ballast!